The present invention relates to a still picture signal conversion apparatus and more particularly to a still picture signal conversion apparatus so designed that a still picture signal reproduced in the form of an electric signal from a video tape or disk or a still picture video camera is converted and delivered as a low-velocity narrow-band signal suitable for use in a facsimile system utilizing the public telephone circuit, a hard copying equipment or the like and the signal is delivered after performing the desired trimming thereon.
With the conventional press picture facsimile system, it has been the usual practice that after developing a film exposed by a silver salt still camera and trimming the film as needed the film is printed, wound on the rotary drum of the facsimile transmitter and scanned mechanically and the picture signal resulting from the photoelectric conversion is amplitude-modulated, thereby transmitting the picture signal over the public telephone circuit. In this case, the print is usually in the form of a positive picture subjected to the necessary trimming and having a cabinet size (120 mm.times.165 mm) or octavo size (165 mm.times.216 mm) which is about two times the former. With this type of known press picture facsimile system, the operations of developing, trimming and printing constitute one of the serious disadvantages of the press picture facsimile transmission which cannot afford the loss of time and there has been the need to reduce the time required.